A variety of books about Bromsgrove and the surrounding area is now available to purchase via our online bookstall. Postage and packing is £1.50 for order values below £5.00, and £3.50 for orders over £5.00. This will be added at checkout. We accept payment by credit/debit card or Paypal, using the Paypal gateway.

Clicking an 'Add to Cart' button will open a new tab or window on the Paypal website. To make multiple purchases please return to the Bromsgrove Society tab and make another selection. Checkout in the Paypal tab to complete your purchase.

If you wish, you can also pay by cheque. Please make cheques payable to The Bromsgrove Society and send to John Weston, 20 Sunningdale Road, Bromsgrove, B61 7NN, tel.: 01527 873483.

The Story of Finstall: The 1640s to the 1940sJennie McGregor-Smith (Brewin Books, 2018). £12.00

Local author, and Bromsgrove Society member, Jennie McGregor-Smith tells the story of Finstall, from the Civil War through to the 1940s. The book travels from the tiny hamlet with just a blacksmith's workshop on the Alcester Road and a few small farming dwellings. It tells the story of many changes and goes up to the attractive village we have today with its Village Hall, the corner shop, the Cross Inn, and Dusthouse Lane and Pikes Pool Lane which even today still feel like true countryside.

The Worcester and Birmingham Canal, some thirty miles long, was completed in 1815. A classic of its type, this book traces the successive stages reached in building the canal and its reservoirs, including the saga of the Tardebigge Boat Lift. Later chapters cover the history of the canal following its completion and its use for both commercial and pleasure purposes, as well as past and present places of interest along its length.

A History of HanburyAndrew Harris (Andrew Harris, 2018) £10.00

The story begins with the Iron Age hill fort, which it is thought played an important role locally, and continues with the Roman Period, about which a clear picture has emerged. The Anglo-Saxon period seems to have been one of much change and disruption. In the post medieval period the parish was dominated by the Vernon and Bearcroft families, and their story is fully told in the book.

John Corbett: Pillar of Salt 1817-1901Barbara Middlemass (Revised and expanded edition published in 2017 by Saltway Press) £12.00

The story of Worcestershire entrepreneur and philanthropist John Corbett, widely referred to as ‘The Salt King’. Having worked initially for his father’s canal boat business, in 1854 he went into salt production at Stoke Prior. At a time of fierce competition at home and abroad, he established Stoke Works as a highly successful salt manufactory. Later he was elected to Parliament and helped turn Droitwich into a spa resort when the salt industry was in decline.

Fairly Mounted on a Hill: Bromsgrove’s Church and Its PeopleSimon Henderson (Kissed Off Publications, 2015) £15.00

The story of a church and the people who used it. Before Henry VIII created the first of many splits in the English Church every man, woman and child in the country saw their local church as a focus of their life. While modern England developed around it, the parish church provided a point of continuity and permanence in often troubled times. This human story complements the church as a piece of architecture; it explains why churches look as they do and why we are who we are.

The story of Isaiah Burnell, a man of humble Yorkshire origins, who for almost fifty years taught, developed, encouraged and made music in his adopted home town of Bromsgrove. A friend of Edward Elgar, he was Director of Music at Bromsgrove School for 25 years and a longstanding member of Bromsgrove Musical Club. His best known work is the anthem Surely the Lord is in This Place which he wrote for the dedication of Bromsgrove School’s Memorial Chapel in 1931.

The core of this book is the autobiography of a man who led an extraordinary life of adventure in times which were full of drama. Benjamin Sanders’s account of his life, penned in 1833 when he was seventy, is a lively tale of a life full of incident. Sanders moves from Worcester to London, to New York, to Copenhagen, during which travels he experienced incredible changes of fortune through plague and wars, before coming in his later years to settle and establish his button factory in Bromsgrove. Available in both hardback and paperback editions.

From Bromsgrove to Aston Fields: A Story of Victorian ExpansionJennie McGregor-Smith (Brewin Books, 2008) £14.95

This absorbing and liberally illustrated book tells the history of Aston Fields and the Victorian development of the eastern side of Bromsgrove. The arrival of the railway had a major influence on the area. It describes the new roads and some of the people who lived in them, as well as the importance of industries such as the Wagon Works, the clothing factory and Bromsgrove Guild to the town’s economy.

Founded by Leslie Harris in 1928, L.G. Harris & Co. became the UK’s leading paintbrush manufacturer. This book tells the story of the business, from small beginnings in the back streets of Birmingham to the creation of a garden factory in the countryside near Bromsgrove. Leslie Harris’s son Andrew has brought the story up to date, describing developments affecting manufacturing and retailing in more recent times. Illustrated with over 250 archive pictures.

This superb publication from the Bromsgrove Society followed five years of research by our Local History Group. It has 160 pages and contains over 100 illustrations, 25 of which are in colour. In addition to the fascinating story of the business which brought Bromsgrove to worldwide prominence, it includes: interviews with four former Guild employees; a useful gazetteer of Bromsgrove Guild work in the West Midlands; and appendices which include lists of all known Bromsgrove Guild personnel as well as Guild commissions carried out in London and abroad.

A Hundred Years in Tardebigge: The Parish in the Twentieth CenturyAlan White (Brewin Books, 2011) £14.00

A history of Tardebigge, providing an account of events in the life of the parish in the twentieth century. Aspects covered include: the sale of the Earl of Plymouth’s Hewell Grange estates after the Second World War; happenings at Tardebigge Church and the Church School; changes in farming; and the impact of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the A448 dual carriageway on this rural community. Includes reminiscences of several local people.

From 1815 until 1972 there was a substantial salt industry at Stoke Prior, Worcestershire. This book provides a record of the development of the industry and a description of the processes by which salt, and formerly chemicals and soap, were produced there. It also gives an insight into the working conditions and the jobs undertaken by those who were employed.

A historical and visual record of some of the hundreds of buildings built by the Brazier firm of Bromsgrove during the 140 years of its existence. It is also a record of the contribution of four generations of the Brazier family to the firm’s development, starting with the Victorian founder, Jonathan Brazier, a publican and builder, and the father of sixteen children.

A history of Dodderhill and Wychbold from Roman times through to the present day. Throughout its history the area has been traversed by a major road which has shaped its development. Salt from Droitwich was carried along this road to medieval markets such as Coventry, and firewood for the brine boiling was transported in the opposite direction. More recently there has been the erection of the BBC transmitters and the arrival of the M5 motorway. The book draws on a wide range of evidence from archaeology and history, including results of original research carried out by the Dodderhill Parish Survey with assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Sketches of BromsgroveBill Hazlehurst (Quercus, 1995) £5.00

Forty pen and ink sketches of local buildings as they used to be by the popular Midland artist.

Describes the life and works of Bromsgrove artist and craftsman Archibald John Davies. Born in 1877, Davies was educated in Birmingham and trained at the Birmingham School of Art in the Arts and Crafts style. In 1906 he established a stained glass studio in the premises of the Bromsgrove Guild and worked there until his death in 1953. The book includes more than fifty colour photographs and a gazetteer of Davies’s work around Britain.

Devoted to the life and work of Albert Edward Lemmon and his son Peter. Born in Birmingham in 1889, Lemmon trained at the Birmingham School of Art from 1903-1908. After working initially with A.J. Davies, in 1928 he established his own studio in Bromsgrove undertaking commissions for stained glass windows and the decorative arts. The book has gazetteers of his work, as well as many colour photographs.

From Hamlet to Parish: The Story of Dodford WorcestershireWinifred Bond, edited by Gordon Long (Coombe Cottage Books, 2005) £5.00

A history of the parish of Dodford, Worcestershire from medieval times through to the mid-twentieth century. Winifred Bond’s original version was revised and updated with additional information in 2005 by Gordon Long.

The Last Great Chartist Land Settlement: Great Dodford 1849Diana Poole (The Dodford Society, 1999) £5.00

A history of the founding and development of Great Dodford as a Chartist settlement.